When I do meditation practice I usually recite the prayer "Supplication to the Kagyu Lineage". When I recite the lines "To this meditator who is not attached to food and wealth", "To this meditator who continually supplicates him", and "To this meditator who rest simply without altering it", it feels like I'm lying since I am attached to food and wealth, especially food, I do not continually supplicate the guru, and I do not rest simply without altering it. Is this in fact lying, and if so, would it be better to stop reciting that prayer until I no longer are attached to food and wealth etc.?

I am not qualified to say anything about the Kagyu lineage or its practices. But I remembered the words of a Nyingma lama when I read your post. He once said something like: Even if you do not have the authentic feeling, keep on and try at least to pretend. Do not give up. It somehow meant that if pretense is mixed with devotion, the real longing to have those qualities, then pretense will transform into authenticity.I think that is really very good advice!Never give up. There will definitely be blessings through the prayer which will have the desired effect through merits.

TMingyur wrote:I am not qualified to say anything about the Kagyu lineage or its practices. But I remembered the words of a Nyingma lama when I read your post. He once said something like: Even if you do not have the authentic feeling, keep on and try at least to pretend. Do not give up. It somehow meant that if pretense is mixed with devotion, the real longing to have those qualities, then pretense will transform into authenticity.I think that is really very good advice!Never give up. There will definitely be blessings through the prayer which will have the desired effect through merits.

I was also taught that this is the setting of your intentions, setting goals and standards to work towards.

If your intention is to reach these stages, then it is ok to say the prayer, and then you work towards that. It also acts as a benchmark to regularly check your own behaviour against - "I am praying this, am I actually doing this, or trying to?".

This is a beautiful and very powerful prayer.There are some videos on it by some senior Kagyu lamas on Youtube last time I checked, Thrangu Rinpoche in particular.

Like most practices people discuss here, most are too advanced. If you have to ask so many questions then it's probably not for you.

A genuine one-on-one teacher is not going to give teachings you can't grasp.This is part of the process of getting close to the teacher.The only way to see the pointing out is to remain GENUINE with a one-on-one teacher and many years of practice (actual meditation).

If you are a genuine student then it is vital you seek out a teacher (tulku or rinpoche who possesses the lineage).We learn from the teacher and actual meditation, not from books and discussion boards.